Definition of Agenda:

 A list of things to be considered or done.

 A list of items to be discussed at a formal meeting.

NOUN. Formally a plural of, agendum but usually used as a singular with plural, agendas or
Agenda.

Agenda, “things to be done,” is the plural of the Latin gerund agendum andis used
today in the sense “a plan or list of matters to be acted upon.” Inthat sense it is treat
ed as a singular noun; its plural is usually agendas:
‘The agenda is ready for distribution.’
‘The agendas of last year's meetingsare printed in the official minutes.’
Designing agenda.
We’ve all been in meetings where participants are unprepared, people veer off-track,
and the topics discussed are a waste of the team’s time. These problems — and others
like it — stem from poor agenda design. An effective agenda sets clear expectations
for what needs to occur before and during a meeting. It helps team members prepare,
allocates time wisely, quickly gets everyone on the same topic, and identifies when
the discussion is complete. If problems still occur during the meeting, a well-
designed agenda increases the team’s ability to effectively and quickly address them.
Here are some tips for designing an effective agenda for your next meeting.

Seek input from team members.

If you want your team to be engaged in meetings, make sure the agenda includes
items that reflect their needs. Ask team members to suggest agenda items along with
a reason why each item needs to be addressed in a team setting. If you ultimately
decide not to include an item, be accountable — explain your reasoning to the team
member who suggested it.

Select topics that affect the entire team.

Team meeting time is expensive and difficult to schedule. It should mainly be used
to discuss and make decisions on issues that affect the whole team — and need the
whole team to solve them. These are often ones in which individuals must coordinate
their actions because their parts of the organization are interdependent. They are also
likely to be issues for which people have different information and needs. Examples
might include: How do we best allocate shared resources? How do we reduce
response time? If the team isn’t spending most of the meeting talking about
interdependent issues, members will disengage and ultimately not attend.

List agenda topics as questions the team needs to answer. Most agenda topics are
simply several words strung/threaded together to form a phrase, for example: “office
space reallocation.” This leaves meeting participants wondering,/speculating “What
about office space reallocation?” When you list a topic as a question (or questions)
to be answered, it instead reads like this: “Under what conditions, if any, should we
reallocate office space?

A question enables team members to better prepare for the discussion and to monitor
whether their own and others’ comments are on track. During the meeting, anyone
who thinks a comment is off-track can say something like, “I’m not seeing how your
comment relates to the question we’re trying to answer. Can you help me understand
the connection?” Finally, the team knows that when the question has been answered,
the discussion is complete.

Estimate a realistic amount of time for each topic. This serves two purposes. First,
it requires you to do the math — to calculate how much time the team will need for
introducing the topic, answering questions, resolving different points of view,
generating potential solutions, and agreeing on the action items that follow from
discussion and decisions. Leaders typically underestimate the amount of time
needed. If there are ten people in your meeting and you have allocated ten minutes
to decide under what conditions, if any, you will reallocate office space, you have
probably underestimated the time. By doing some simple math, you would realize
that the team would have to reach a decision immediately after each of the ten
members has spoken for a minute.

Second, the estimated time enables team members to either adapt their comments to
fit within the allotted timeframe or to suggest that more time may be needed. The
purpose of listing the time is not to stop discussion when the time has elapsed; that
simply contributes to poor decision making and frustration. The purpose is to get
better at allocating enough time for the team to effectively and efficiently answer the
questions before it.

Propose a process for addressing each agenda item. The process identifies the
steps through which the team will move together to complete the discussion or make
a decision. Agreeing on a process significantly increases meeting effectiveness, yet
leaders rarely do it. Unless the team has agreed on a process, members will, in good
faith, participate based on their own process. You’ve probably seen this in action:
some team members are trying to define the problem, other team members are
wondering why the topic is on the agenda, and still other members are already
identifying and evaluating solutions.

Specify how members should prepare for the meeting. Distribute the agenda with
sufficient time before the meeting, so the team can read background materials and
prepare their initial thoughts for each agenda item ahead of time.

Identify who is responsible for leading each topic. Someone other than the formal
meeting leader is often responsible for leading the discussion of a particular agenda
item. This person may be providing context for the topic, explaining data, or may
have organizational responsibility for that area. Identifying this person next to the
agenda item ensures that anyone who is responsible for leading part of the agenda
knows it — and prepares for it — before the meeting.

Make the first topic “review and modify agenda as needed.” Even if you and
your team have jointly developed the agenda before the meeting, take a minute to
see if anything needs to be changed due to late breaking events. I once had a meeting
scheduled with a senior leadership team. As we reviewed the agenda, I asked if we
needed to modify anything. The CEO stated that he had just told the board of
directors that he planned to resign and that we probably needed to significantly
change the agenda. Not all agenda modifications are this dramatic / affected, but by
checking at the beginning of the meeting, you increase the chance that the team will
use its meeting time most effectively.

End the meeting with a plus/delta,(outlet). If your team meets regularly, two
questions form a simple continuous improvement process: What did we do well?
What do we want to do differently for the next meeting? Investing five or ten minutes
will enable the team to improve performance, working relationships, and team
member satisfaction. Here are some questions to consider when identifying what the
team has done well and what it wants to do differently:

1. Was the agenda distributed in time for everyone to prepare?

2. How well did team members prepare for the meeting?
3. How well did we estimate the time needed for each agenda item?
4. How well did we allocate our time for decision making and discussion?
5. How well did everyone stay on-topic? How well did team members speak up
when they thought someone was off-topic?
 6. How effective was the process for each agenda item?

To ensure that your team follows through, review the results of the plus/delta (simple
evaluation method for any meeting) at the beginning of the next meeting. If you
develop agendas using these tips, and the sample agenda and template below, your
team will have an easier time getting — and staying — focused in meetings.

“A Plus Delta evaluation is a decisive evaluation process that provides feedback

on an experience or event and collects ideas for future improvements. It is framed
in “improvement” language rather than language that might be experienced
negatively. The plus identifies what went well.”

Distributing Information or Agenda

Ensuring that the right people (such as stakeholders, project team members, project
sponsors, etc.) get the right information at the right time for project status and to
make decisions on projects requires a great deal of planning. Effective distribution
of information relies on the selection of the right tools and methods to ensure you
reach the people you need to reach in the manner overcome suited for them to
evaluate and/or make decisions.

Communication Methods
The method to communicate that you select should be based on:

 The type of information to be distributed

 The audience requirements
 The timeline for a required response

Agenda (Meeting) An agenda is a list of meeting activities in the order in which

they are to be taken up, beginning with the call to order and ending with interruption.
It usually includes one or more specific items of business to be acted upon. It may,
but is not required to, include specific times for one or more activities. An agenda
may also be called a tag, schedule, or calendar. It may also contain a listing of
an order of business.
Minutes,
/records/notes also known as protocols or, informally, notes, are the instant
written record of a meeting or hearing. They typically describe the events of
the meeting and may include a list of attendees, a statement of the issues considered
by the participants, and related responses or decisions for the issues.
Creation.
Minutes may be created during the meeting by a typist or court reporter, who may
use shorthand notation and then prepare the minutes and issue them to the
participants afterwards. Alternatively, the meeting can be audio recorded, video
recorded, or a group's appointed or informally assigned secretary may take notes,
with minutes prepared later. Many government agencies use minutes recording
software to record and prepare all minutes in real-time.
PURPOSE
Minutes are the official written record of the meetings of an organization or group.
They are not transcripts of those proceedings. Using the minutes should contain
mainly a record of what was done at the meeting, not what was said by the
members. The organization may have its own rules regarding the content of the
minutes.
For most organizations or groups, it is important for the minutes to be terse and only
include a summary of the decisions. An exact report (transcript) is typically not
useful. Unless the organization's rules require it, a summary of the discussions in a
meeting is neither necessary nor appropriate.
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